Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi said on Wednesday his plan for a United States of Africa should include creating a two million-strong army to staunch recurrent conflicts that have ravaged many of the continent’s nations.
Gaddafi was addressing hundreds of youths in Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital, Abidjan, the final leg of a tour of several West African states before he attends an African Union summit beginning on July 1 in neighbouring Ghana’s capital, Accra.
”One sole African government, one sole African army to defend Africa with a force of two million soldiers. One currency, one passport. Accra must hear this message,” he told the gathering, which included Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo.
Flush with cash from an oil boom, the leader of the North African Arab state has won backing from Senegal, Zimbabwe and other countries for a continent-wide government, but diplomatic heavyweights like South Africa and Uganda are opposed.
Africans say integration would give them a stronger voice on the world stage as globalisation advances, but many doubt the continent of about nearly one billion people with vast economic disparities and many tribes and religions can unite.
Gadaffi, who has long cherished the dream of a United States of Africa first promoted by Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president after independence from Britain, says unification is vital to stabilise Africa and enable it to speak with one voice.
”Africa must forbid all war, civil, tribal or over borders. The youth of Africa is drowning in the Mediterranean to cross the channel to Europe, leaving behind it the paradise which is Africa. No more emigration, no more emigration,” he said. — Reuters